Laundry and Hina's Therapy Session

I got up the next morning, got dressed, and realized I had no more clean clothes after today. I decided I'd hit the Laundry room after breakfast, to get that out of the way. I didn't feel very hungry, so I skipped breakfast, figuring that I would just eat an early lunch instead, and got to work on my laundry instead. I took my usual morning shower, then got dressed in my last clean outfit, then headed to the School Store.

At the school store, I scanned my E-Handbook twice. My first reward was a blow-up flotation donut, currently deflated, but looked like it had pink icing and purple sprinkles. I scanned my E-Handbook a second time, and a small sewing kit came out. I stared at them both blankly, wondering if whoever stocked this machine was delusional, but then I reminded myself that I kept coming here for more stuff. Who's the crazy one then, the stocker, or me?

I grabbed the black clothes hamper, and left my room, carrying the clothes straight down the hallway to the Laundry Room.

When I arrived, I was surprised to find Kirumi there. I figured she'd be in the Dining Hall, cleaning up after breakfast, but she was washing her own clothes as well, instead. She had her own hamper out, and was putting her tights into a mesh bag.

Kirumi looked at me, then my hamper, then approached me and curtsied. "Do you request for me to wash your clothes this morning? I can do yours and mine at once, if you request it."

I shook my head. "Nah, that won't be necessary. I can do my own. I do, however, wish to speak with you, if you have time." I loaded my clothes into the washer and, noticing a sensor, swiped my E-Handbook, turning it on. I chose my settings, and fired up the washer.

Kirumi nodded. "I can accept this request. What do you wish to speak of?"

I knew immediately what I wanted to ask her. "What's with the metal rings on the backs of your gloves? Do they serve any purpose, or are they just ornamental?"

Kirumi looked surprised, but only for the briefest of moments. An untrained eye wouldn't have seen it at all. "I...have not been asked about them. In truth, I do not know. However, they do not impede my ability to perform my tasks, so I continue to wear these gloves anyway."

"Also, why do you have your tights in that mesh bag? Why not just toss them in the washer like everything else?" I was genuinely curious about this.

Kirumi responded quickly, "It's to avoid getting the legs tangled up with each other, or the washing mechanism inside the washer. In the dryer, it helps avoid getting lint on them. Lint is very difficult to get off of a good pair of tights, but with a mesh bag, it makes washing and drying much easier. Plus, it also helps them last longer, and keeps them from getting stretched out."

Ok, so Kirumi is VERY knowledgeable about washing and drying clothes. I already knew this, but I was caught off guard by the sheer detail of the knowledge dropped on my head.

Kirumi and I talked for a while longer, and when the washers went off, we switched our own loads into the dryers, scanned our E-Handbooks, then talked some more while our clothes dried. We discussed food, cleaning habits, and even discussed concerns about the other students.

Kirumi was concerned about Mikan, while I was more worried about Maki. Kirumi thought Mikan was developing an unusual attachment towards me, which seemed to have started after I spoke with Mikan in her room. She claimed Mikan would look longingly at my door, and thought she saw Mikan follow me to and from the Dining Hall at dinnertime yesterday. I hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary, but I would be more wary, in case Mikan was plotting something.

As for me, I was mostly concerned about Maki. She rarely spoke with anyone, and almost seemed hostile to anyone except Peko. The one time I talked to her in her room, she threatened to kill me when I stood up to leave. As the Ultimate Assassin, she was NOT someone I wanted to piss off, then be left alone with.

Eventually, our clothes dried, so we busied ourselves folding our clothes and putting them into our hampers. Before I left, I gave her the small sewing kit. Kirumi opened the kit, examined the needles and threads carefully, then nodded approvingly. After she realized I was giving it to her, she looked at the kit again, then spoke in her usual even-keel voice.

"Will there be duties where I must use this? Then I will accept it, by all means. You have made me...incredibly happy. Thank you."

"No problem. I figured you would put it to better use than I could. I'm glad you like it."

"Thanks again." Kirumi curtsied, then carried her laundry out of the room. I followed her lead, since her room was only 2 rooms before mine. I entered my dorm room and started hanging up my clothes and putting my socks and boxers away.

Shortly after I finished, I heard my doorbell ring. Not expecting company, I looked out the peephole, and saw Hina standing there, looking nervous. Quickly, I opened the door and offered to let her in. She accepted, and sat down on my bed. I pulled the chair out from my desk and sat down. Hina didn't seem to be her usual cheery self. Something was obviously troubling her.

"Ummmm..." Hina started. "I'm not sure how to ask this, but...there's something on my mind that's bothering me."

This was obvious from a mere glance, but I kept that to myself. "Ok, like what? Take your time if you need to."

Hina took a deep breath, then sighed. "I...ummm...do you think I'm ladylike?"

I expected a question about food, but this was coming from left field. "What do you mean by 'ladylike', Hina?" I asked, a little confused.

Hina looked down, then took another deep breath and met my eyes. "I mean, every other girl here seems more ladylike than I am. Here I am, dressed like I'm going to gym class, and every other girl is wearing pretty skirts and cute shoes and..." Hina trailed off.

I thought I was starting to see where this was going. "I see your concern, but honestly, I think what you're wearing is much more fitting for you."

Hina thought for a moment. "But all I've ever done in my life is focus on sports, particularly swimming. I've never actually...had feelings like that before. Like the way Kazuichi looks at Miu when he's working with her...I've never had that before."

So Soda fell for Miu after all. That was gonna throw a wrench into things. I planned on having Miu work on something for me tomorrow. However, knowing Soda, he'd likely get nosy, and this wasn't something I was ready to discuss with anyone else yet. Worse, telling Soda to shoo off would likely make him jealous or angry, and I had zero interest in fighting with him over a foul-mouth pervy girl. Crap.

I leaned in a bit. "Honestly, I wouldn't worry too terribly much about it. For every girl who wishes they were more feminine, or dressed more girly, there's about a dozen girls who wish guys would quit staring at them and just leave them alone. When the time is right for you, you'll know. And you won't have to change anything for him, either."

I decided this would be a great time to change the subject. "So how have you and Akane been doing lately? I see you two hanging out a lot together."

Hina's face lit up. "Oh, we get along GREAT! She's just as athletic as I am, and she can eat like no one else. She even out-eats me at donuts, and I LOVE donuts! She seems a little more violent than I'd like, though. She's always asking me if I want to fight with her, but I'm not really much into fighting. She's tried to fight with Maki, but Maki just tells Akane that she's stupid for wanting to fight for no reason. Akane's tried to fight with Peko too, but Peko just coolly brushes her off. It seems to drive her nuts sometimes."

So Akane has a violent streak. Noted.

Hina's eyes lit up. "Speaking of Akane, I was supposed to meet her soon in the pool. She was actually gonna try to swim laps with me at 1:30pm." I glanced at the time. It was 1:15pm.

I stood up. "Well, before you go to the pool..." I pulled out the inflatable donut out of my cargo pocket. "I figured you'd like to relax in this during your swimming breaks."

Hina's eyes grew wide. "A floating donut, that looks like a donut?! It's super cute! Ultra stoked!"

Before Hina could walk out the door, however, Monokuma's face appeared on the monitor in my room. "We have 3 sets of eyes on another dead person! Everyone up to the Jam Room, inside the Music Room, NOW!!"

Hina put her hand to her mouth, and I thought she might start crying. "Nooo! Why?!"

I offered to walk with her to the Jam Room, and she accepted. She even let me put my arm around her waist to help comfort her. When we went up the stairs to the second floor, I gently put my hand on her back, between her shoulder blades. We made a left turn at the top of the stairs, then a right in front of the Biology Room. I could hear two girls loudly arguing, seemingly from the Music Room, and one of them sounded like Miu.

I let go of Hina and walked into the Music Room. Sure enough, Ibuki and Miu were in a heated argument, but I didn't understand what they were screaming about. Ibuki was saying something about sabotage, and Miu was denying whatever Ibuki was accusing her of. I walked into the Jam Room, and my heart sunk.

Keebo was completely shorted out. He had a speaker coming out of his chest. Connected to the speaker was a cord, which was plugged into a guitar. The smell of smoke, or something burnt, filled the room. Keebo was still upright, somehow, but his eyes were shut, and the burnt smell was coming from his torso area.

Keebo...if robots could die, he was dead. And things were gonna...get...UGLY!